Save the Starving Frontier! The “Buyer” of the Reversed Chastity World - 14

Chapter 14: Let’s Feed the Noble District!

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“How many people are in the knight order?”

“A thousand. If you count the foot soldiers and squires, about three thousand. It may seem small, but this is the military strength of the domain capital in the frontier. The rest is supplemented with the aid of adventurers.”

I see. Three thousand was quite a large group. No wonder they had been having a hard time.  When I asked a bit more in detail, it turned out there was also a garrison force spread across places other than the domain capital, which was the key to this frontier.

Including them, along with citizen levies and noble mobilization, the forces could number in the tens of thousands. That was apparently the military power of this Margrave. The reason it seemed small was because they were professional soldiers.

Professional soldiers ate up money. If you had too many, food production wouldn’t keep up and the economy would collapse. So the knight order of the capital being about a thousand made sense. Half of them were stationed here in the capital.

“Is the other half safe?”

“I don’t know… Even if we wanted to check on them, we had no rations to move the army. I worry for them, but we couldn’t leave this place.”

Apparently, they hadn’t been able to confirm the effects of that so-called “magic rampage.” It might be the same for the villages and towns scattered around. Still, since this capital was closer to ground zero, the damage here was surely the worst. For now, I needed to get the capital’s knight order back on its feet.

“Alright, let’s go. I’ll leave leading the way through the noble district to you. Guide us so we don’t stir up any trouble.”

“Understood. I’ll see to it that you reach there safely, no matter what.”

Aisha and Etna also thumped their chests.

“I’m coming too! Don’t worry!”

“O-Over here too! I’ll protect you, Nii-chan!”

Hahaha. I’m counting on you two, okay? 

Next to me, Pirika also thumped her chest with a firm thump. I felt nothing but gratitude for her spirit. Together, we all headed toward the noble district.

Where is the knight order’s station?

“That’s a huge city gate. So the area’s separated?”

“Yes. It’s to keep commoners from sneaking in. Wait here, I’ll have it opened.”

At the Commander’s signal, the gate opened. The door had a mechanical system, huh? Since there were screws, that meant gear mechanisms existed. Apparently, mechanical technology was more in use than I had thought.

Inside the gate, stone paving spread out. The streets were orderly, but there were no people in sight. The lack of liveliness was probably due to the lack of food. The situation inside was easy to guess.

“Everyone is starving, huh.”

“That’s why your presence is so precious. Even just the hundred sacks of wheat you provided will tide us over for now.”

Right now, the absence of people was actually convenient. We walked through the stone-paved streets without drawing anyone’s eyes.

“Thanks, Commander.”

“My name is Sharon. Sharon Ilstaria. Pleased to meet you, Kaito-dono.”

So she was Commander Sharon of the knight order. Got it memorized.

“Kaito-nii-chan, this is the first time we’ve entered the noble district.”

“I’ve been here before! I take on jobs from nobles too, after all!”

Etna and Pirika were nervous. Aisha, who seemed used to it, carried herself confidently.

“This is the knight’s station. There’s also a dormitory where we can live.”

We were led to a vast plot of land. There was a massive building there—so this was the barracks. Soldiers lived here. One good thing was that the enormous training ground had a dirt floor. Good. That meant I could dig it up to replenish funds through “Purchase” system. If it had been stone paving, I’d have had to strip it bare first.

“Only knight order members are inside these grounds. Arrogant nobles rarely intrude, so you can relax here.”

“That’s a relief. So I just need to bring out supplies here?”

First, I had to fill the bellies of the barracks’ soldiers. There had only been twenty of them who came to the southern farming district. Here, there were a thousand nobles alone. Their squires and attendants easily numbered over two thousand.

No time to waste.

“Let’s throw a feast. Let them eat as much as they want.”

“Got it. Let’s prepare. I’ll count on you for the food.”

Commander Sharon was quick to understand. I could tell she shared the thought that first we needed to feed them enough to move again. Commander Sharon and two other knights stood as our guards, while the other seventeen went to relay the message to the barracks.

Since a wide space would be better, I borrowed the training ground and started preparing to bring out food. I didn’t have enough funds, so I had Etna and Pirika ask the knights to bring scrap wood.

“Right. We can’t exactly have them eat right on the ground.”

I spread out blue tarps and set up foldable conference tables. I taught them how to assemble them and had them set up about eight of it. 

“I’ll keep bringing stuff out, so just set them on the tables.”

Three thousand people to feed. If we tried to do it quickly, it would be as busy as the first day. It didn’t matter what it was, I just started piling bread high. I bought about 300,000 yen’s worth of bakery bread in bulk.

I handed over the mountain of arriving cardboard boxes and had them open them on the tables. One table was dedicated to drink servers. I set up six drink dispensers, bought sports drinks and orange juice by the case, and had them pour them in.

Once preparations were done, a flood of soldiers poured out of the barracks. As expected, every single one was female. Their movements were sluggish, weakened by hunger.

“Eat up! Don’t hold back! Dig in!”

When I shouted that, the soldiers swarmed the tables piled with bread. Tears ran down their faces as they reached for the mountain of food in front of them. It seemed their food situation wasn’t as bad as in the commoner district.

 They weren’t at the point of needing to eat gruel. They still had enough strength to eat solid bread as it was.

“S-So good! Bread, it’s bread! And so much of it…!”

“These are all flavors I’ve never tasted before and the bread is topped with meat and eggs! There are sweet ones too! Delicious… I can’t even remember the last time I had a meal like this…!”

It wasn’t a figure of speech—many of them were truly crying. They must have been at their limit. Even if they survived on preserved food, quality wasn’t guaranteed.

After enduring for so long, having a delicious and satisfying meal again brought the knight order members to tears. Good food in hard times could really make you cry. To be in a position where you had to defend the city and its people, yet lacked food and strength…

As soldiers, of course they’d want to cry. Even more so as knights. But there was no need to hold back anymore. 

Eat all you want.

“They’re going to finish this off soon. As expected of soldiers, they eat fast.”

I bought another 500,000 yen worth of bread. I had to make sure that there was no shortage of food for them to eat. 

It doesn’t matter if you’re a noble or a commoner. If they’re hungry, I will  feed all of them a lot of food!

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